


Sleepovers

by sinderella0069



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Anal Sex, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Oral Sex, Romance, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:48:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22725658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinderella0069/pseuds/sinderella0069
Summary: When Peridot finds Little Homeworld just a little too loud for her to sleep, she heads to the empty beach house for some peace and quiet. She doesn't get it. Older!StevenxPeridot smutty story, you have been warned. Happy Valentines Day everyone!
Relationships: Peridot/Steven Universe
Comments: 7
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an older!Steven x Peridot smutty story. If older!Steven x Peridot smutty stories are not your thing, I suggest you turn back now, because I will not be all that happy if every single comment I get is a complaint that it's an older!Steven x Peridot smutty story. You have been warned.

If there was one downside to making peace with Homeworld and curing all of the corrupted gems, it was that none of the other inhabitants of Little Homeworld understood the appeal of a good night's sleep, Peridot reflected. To them, the only difference between day and night was that at night, they had to take extra care not to step on the Heaven and Earth gems.

Which meant that right now, none of them were making any effort to keep the noise down, and Peridot found herself thinking almost longingly of the old barn. Living there with nobody but Lapis for company had been lonely and stressful, but at least it had been quiet. Here was constant noise. And while it was true that she didn't actually _need_ to sleep, she'd found she enjoyed the experience and had been looking forward to spending a few hours of downtime just wildly hallucinating while her body recharged. But every time she started to drift off, the sound of other gems shouting orders at each other woke her straight back up again.

What she needed was just to get out of Little Homeworld for a few hours of peace and privacy. Some place like-

The answer came to her at once. Steven and the Crystal Gems were visiting Spinel and the Diamonds on Homeworld right at that moment and weren't expected back for days. The beach house was far enough away from both Beach City and Homeworld that the only sound would be the call of seagulls and the sound of waves crashing on the sand, and none of the gems here, except for maybe Lapis, quite had the nerve to approach it when it was unoccupied.

And! As it was unoccupied, she wouldn't even have to sleep in the bath! She could sleep-

She sat bolt upright and immediately fell out of her hammock. Undaunted, she scrambled to her feet and was out of the door, heading straight for the nearest warp pad before the rational part of her brain had a chance to point out all the ways this was deeply inappropriate. Probably because it was still half asleep.

Moments later, she arrived in the empty beach house. For several seconds, she simply stood still, eyes closed, a small smile on her face as she let the silence wash over her.

Peace at last.

When she opened her eyes again, her gaze fell upon the staircase. She looked along it until she reached the room at the top. And the bed. Steven's bed.

Was it a gross violation of his privacy to sleep in his bed without his permission or knowledge? Absolutely. Truce or no truce, the Diamonds would shatter her on the spot if they found out, assuming Pearl and Garnet didn't get there first.

Was she going to do it anyway? Hell yes, and she planned to enjoy every single moment of it. Perhaps she'd even wear one of his t-shirts. Maybe she'd _only_ wear one of his t-shirts!

And so she marched up the stairs, phased out of her clothes, took one of his t-shirts from the dresser and put it on. Then she got under the bed covers and closed her eyes. The bedding still smelled faintly of him and she smiled to herself, imagining that he was there and holding her in his arms. She gave one of her breasts a gentle squeeze while her other hand stroked the skin on her thighs... and then paused. Now that really _would_ be going too far.

But still, there was nothing wrong with a little light fantasizing to fall asleep to. So long as she kept her hands to herself. Or rather, didn't.

xxx

"I can't believe you got everything fixed up so quickly!" Amethyst enthused as they made their way back to the Galaxy Warp that would take them back to Earth. "I mean, OK, yeah, it's _you_ , but still!"

Steven grinned bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, gotta admit, I wasn't expecting them to agree so quickly, I really though we were gonna have to try and grow a whole garden on Homeworld before they let us try fixing up some of the planets they hadn't quite finished destroying."

"It helps when you phrase it like that and hold them accountable," Garnet pointed out.

"Well, I'm not sorry to be heading home so early," Pearl said firmly.

"Aww." Steven gave her a friendly nudge. "You miss Earth too, huh?"

Pearl blushed and looked away. "No, it's just I remembered I'd left a carton of milk in the fridge and I'd like to get back before it turns into a carton of cheese."

"Ooh, my favorite!" Amethyst sped up and hopped up onto the warp pad and bounced impatiently from foot to foot. "Come on, let's go!"

They laughed and stepped up onto the warp pad after her and a short time later, they materialized in the middle of the Galaxy Warp on Earth, which lay silently in the ocean under an inky black sky.

"Oh, I didn't realize it was so late." Steven pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it. For a few seconds, it showed an error message as it had done during their entire time on Homeworld, before it reconnected with the Earth network and told him it was 2am and way past his bedtime. "Oops. Early." He sighed. He'd _tried_ keeping to a regular sleep schedule on Homeworld, but it really was difficult when there was no night and nobody else needed to sleep. "I'd better go to bed when we get back, or I'm gonna get all space-jet-lagged again."

Garnet nodded and stepped onto the next warp pad. "You get some rest and we'll discuss our next steps in the morning. Later in the morning," she amended with a smile. She activated the warp and moments later, they stepped back into the house. "Goodnight Steven."

"Sleep well," Pearl added and gave him a motherly kiss on the forehead.

Amethyst ruffled his hair on the way to the fridge. "Don't let the bedbugs bite," she said cheerfully, and then tried to ruffle his hair again on her way back to the temple door, but he dodged her hands with a laugh. Then he smiled and waved to them as they all stepped through the door and into their respective rooms.

And then he relaxed and looked fondly up at his own room. One of the other downsides of sleeping on Homeworld was that he knew the Pebbles were always watching him. He'd told them dozens of times that they were free to do as they liked now, but apparently what they liked was hiding and waiting for him to slip up and say he wanted something, which would then mysteriously appear. It was starting to make him wonder if the clouds in the room in the temple weren't maybe hiding something-

He shook that disturbing thought away and started climbing the stairs to his room. That sort of thinking could wait until he was back on Homeworld, a world with no night, in a room that was too bright, being watched by unseen eyes. Here, he was all alone and only mildly sleepy, and so he planned to treat himself by indulging in one of his favorite explicit fantasies before he went to sleep. No generic porno people would be fucking in his head tonight. Oh no, tonight he was going to have plot! He was going to have details! He was going to have long, drawn-out foreplay! He was going to have the multi-million dollar, 3D hi-def blockbuster version of Naughty Schoolgirl Peridot playing on Channel Steven tonight!

With that happy thought now in mind, he quickly stripped down to his underpants, slid under the covers and closed his eyes.

Immediately, his brain began setting the scene. He stood at the front of a generic anime classroom where twenty or so gems were sitting quietly. A bell rang and they all began chattering as they gathered together their belongings.

"Class dismissed," he said, raising his voice to be heard over the noise. "Don't forget to read chapters three through six. Peridot, please remain behind."

The class vanished. He paused and rewound the scenario back through his head and made them all walk past him and out of the door, just to make things feel more realistic. Then as the last student left and the door closed behind them, Peridot stepped forward. "You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked innocently.

"Yes." He paused for a moment and looked up and down her body. Smart, black, buckle-up shoes. White, knee-high socks. A slightly too short pleated skirt (red? Tartan? Navy? Did it matter? She wouldn't be wearing it for long). A white, neatly tucked-in, short-sleeved blouse. A tie (plain? Striped? Yes, red and black stripes). And then he looked at her cute face, with its pointy noise and pouty lips and wide, green eyes behind -not a visor. Large, round spectacles – all framed in thick, blonde hair in its signature, triangular style.

Satisfied that his fantasy Peridot was looking her adorable best, he picked up a stack of papers and tapped them. "I wanted to talk to you about your pop quiz-"

Rewind. Raise the stakes.

"Biology exam. You were asked to describe how humans reproduce." He raised her eyes and looked sternly at her.

"Yes?"

"You have written..." He paused for emphasis and looked down at the paper. It was blank. He blinked and fuzzy squiggles reluctantly wiggled onto the page. "'When humans wish to create a new human, a female human-"

Too much word repetition. Rewind. "A female plants a seed in her garden. The male waters it. And then in nine months, a stork brings a baby and leaves it underneath the fully grown cabbage."

Peridot nodded, her eyes still wide and innocent behind her glasses. "Is there a problem with spelling, sir?"

"The problem is, somehow you've managed to combine at least three different playground stories into one piece of fiction," he said in faux-exasperation. "I'm going to have to fail you on this quiz, you know, right?"

"Oh sir, please don't fail me!" Her eyes widened and her lower lip trembled. "I need to keep my grades up to stay in-"

Sporting class? He'd seen enough teen movies to know you needed to keep your grades up to stay on sports teams, but Peridot wasn't exactly the sporty type and his brain wouldn't allow him to pretend otherwise. Band? Perhaps. He didn't know if grades mattered for that, but he could make _that_ work."

"I need to keep my grades up or I'll be kicked out of the band!" she implored. "Please, isn't there anything I can do? Could you give me tuition after class?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Extra tuition? Perhaps that's not such a bad idea. Clearly you need a refresher on how human reproduction works."

Now a small smile was twitching at the corners of her mouth. "I'd like that, sir," she purred, taking a few steps closer to him. "Shall we begin now?"

"I suppose I could spare the time," he agreed, closing the gap between them-

Pause. Rewind. Lock the door, pull the blinds. _Then_ he walked towards her, and when he was close enough, he reached out, gently grasped her tie and pulled her towards him. "But first," he murmured, his fingers working at the knot, "I'm going to have to punish you."

"Sir?" She took a step back, but before she could move any further, he pulled the tie free, spun her around and deftly tied her hands behind her back. "Sir!"

"You can't keep deliberately flunking your test papers like this, Peridot," he said sternly, marching her towards his desk. "Sooner or later, the other students are going to wonder how you're keeping your grades up." He sat down on the chair behind the desk (did it have arms? No arms. Wheels? No, his brain would betray him and make it roll, just to annoy him) and pulled her over his lap.

"But sir, it's not deliberate!" she protested, putting up a token struggle but making no real attempt to break free. "I just-"

"And now I have to punish you for lying as well," he said, pulling her (plaid? Grey? Black?) skirt up to expose her white, cotton panties (no need to question _that_ clothing choice). He gazed thoughtfully at her butt for several seconds and then slowly tugged the flimsy garment down. "And I know you're lying," he whispered, leaning forward so that his lips brushed her earlobe, making her shiver. "Because I gave you _extra tuition_ in this subject earlier this week, didn't I?"

Before she could reply, he raised his hand and brought it down upon her ass with a loud _smack._ She yelped and rocked her hips against him, and his cock twitched in response. "Sir, please!" she gasped. "I must have misunderstood the material!"

"Misunderstood?" He stroked the soft skin where he'd struck her and then raised his hand again. "Was there something wrong with my teaching methods?"

"No- eep!" She yelped again as his hand came down upon her again. "No sir! Your method was impeccable!"

"I'm glad to hear it." He stroked the peachy cheeks again, then allowed his hand to drift lower, between her legs, where he gently traced his fingers along the outline of her pussy. "So what exactly was it you misunderstood?"

"Uh..." She hesitated, and he smacked her again, smiling when she wriggled against him. "Ah! I uh, suppose..."

She trailed off with a small gasp, probably because he'd cupped her pussy again, pressing his fingertips against the entrance. "You suppose?" he prompted.

"Hnn..." She tried to push back against him, but he withdrew his hand at once and spanked her one more time. "Ah! I-I suppose I must have misunderstood the uh... the bit where I wasn't supposed to fail on purpose," she admitted.

"That's better," he said soothingly, and rewarded her by slowly sliding two fingers into her. "Good girl. I think you've been punished enough, don't you?"

"Ahhh... yes, sir," she groaned, opening her legs a little wider for him as he continued to pump his fingers into her.

"But now you're here, I think perhaps we'd better go over the material one more time, just to make sure you _really_ understand," he said, and withdrew his fingers.

Then he paused the scenario and considered his options. Blow-job scene, or straight onto the main act? His brain immediately threw up a mental image of Peridot splayed out on his desk, eyes closed, cheeks flushed, mouth half open as he fucked her, but he fought it back down. Not yet. No skipping ahead. There was no real rush, after all. And so he concentrated back on the scene where she laid was across his lap with her skirt pushed up around her waist and her naked ass on display. Where had her panties gone, his brain maddeningly whispered. It was a question that refused to go away, so he quickly rewound to the bit where he'd started pulling them down and tore them off instead before tucking them into his pocket.

Satisfied with that solution, he skipped back to the present, where he pulled Peridot upright, untied her hands and had her straddle him while they made out. He tugged the blouse out of her waistband and slid his hands beneath the thin material until he reached her breasts (no bra. Unnecessary), shamelessly fondling them until her nipples formed stiff, little peaks beneath his fingertips. He opened his mouth and let her tongue slide past his own and heard her moan with desire-

He paused. Was it his imagination or was his imagination going all out tonight? He could almost _feel_ her body pressed up against him, the breast he was holding, the lips against his own...

With extreme reluctance, he banished his fantasy classroom and fantasy Peridot and forced his eyes open. Only to find himself still face-to-face and lip-to-lip with-

"Peridot?"

xxx

Peridot, meanwhile, had been obliviously enjoying her own happy horny dreams, specifically the one where the Diamonds decided that actually, they weren't willing to give up being supreme rulers of a galactic empire after all and launched an attack on Earth, only to be defeated by a puny Peridot... with a giant freakin' death ray.

"Oh Peridot!" Steven pulled her close and gazed deeply into her eyes. "How could I have been so naive!? You've saved us all! You're so smart and amazing and cute and- and I love you!"

Peridot smiled and snuggled against his chest. "I couldn't let them hurt you, Steven," she declared dramatically. "Because... I love you too."

She leaned up and kissed him hard and he responded with equal fervor for several seconds before pulling back and sweeping her into his arms. "You deserve a reward for being so wonderful," he said, carrying her up the stairs to the beach house.

"Oooheehee!" She wriggled with anticipation as he kicked the door open and stepped inside. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well..." He carefully lowered her onto the bed and leaned over her. "I was thinking I'd start with kisses." And he kissed her until her lips and loins tingled. "And then," he murmured, stroking her face, "perhaps... more."

His other hand slid up her torso and cupped her breast, giving it a light squeeze and his lips met hers again. "Steven..." she moaned.

"Peridot?"

She smiled sleepily at him and leaned forward for another kiss... and then paused, confused. When had it gotten so dark? And why did Steven look different? And what had happened to her clothes-

Her eyes snapped open in horror and she scrambled backwards as fast as she could, which admittedly wasn't as fast as she'd like, because his hand was caught in her shirt. "S-Steven!" she stammered, pulling free and immediately falling backwards off the end of the bed. "I thought- th-there was a lot of noise and-and you're supposed to be on Homeworld!" she blustered, yanking the hem of the t-shirt back down and silently praying it was too dark for him to have spotted that she was naked underneath it. "I-I apologize profusely for the intrusion, it'll _never_ happen again, I assure you!" she said vehemently, and inched towards the stairs. If she could just get out of there fast enough and then hide out in Little Homeworld for the next few months or decades to prevent triggering his memory, he might fall asleep and think this was all a strange dream.

Except it was now dawning upon Steven that this was _not_ a strange dream, nor was it some sort of wish-fulfillment from the Pebbles or his mother's room; this was really real... and if he didn't do something to calm Peridot down, she was going to run out of here and never come back. And if she did that, he'd- well nothing too extreme, hopefully, but he'd definitely jack off and cry about it, and that was not how he'd planned this night to go. "Peridot, wait, it's OK!"

Peridot hesitated. Steven decided to take it as a good sign. "Look, um-" he began, trying to work out where to start. It was rather difficult to concentrate when she was standing there in nothing but his t-shirt. His boner throbbed in approval and he quickly pulled the rumpled blankets up to cover himself. What was it she'd said? "You uh, you said there was a lot of noise?"

"Um." Peridot hadn't missed his movements. She was going to have to make a few adjustments to her fantasies. Assuming she ever dared indulge in such things again after this humiliation, she thought gloomily. Unfortunately, it wasn't making her any less turned on. She pressed her thighs together and took a deep breath to compose herself. "Y-yes. The other gems, they don't sleep, so I thought... the house was empty and- and I presumed this trip to Homeworld would take several more days at least." She blushed and turned away miserably. "I know I shouldn't have come here, but- I just wanted some peace and quiet!"

"Hey, it's fine, I get it," he said soothingly. "Y'know, one of the reasons I was so happy to be back early is because it's _horrible_ trying to sleep on Homeworld." He gestured towards the darkened sky outside the window. "There's no night, and nobody else sleeps, and I can't, um, relax there because I _know_ they're watching me!"

"I... see." Peridot glanced over towards the stairs. Somehow, she was going to have to get down them without turning around, the t-shirt was far too short for her to cover the front _and_ the back and she really didn't want to moon him. "Well," she said brightly, shuffling a few steps backwards. "In that case, I shall leave you-"

"Or you could stay!" he blurted out, and then blushed furiously. "I-I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to! But- but if you wanted to, that's fine too! 'Cause they're still gonna be making a ton of noise, right? And- and it's nice and quiet here, right? That's why you came here in the first place! And..." His blush deepened. "And um, I kinda liked it. You, I mean. Being in my bed."

"Um..." Peridot's eyes flickered towards his lap, where the blankets didn't quite manage to hide his obvious arousal, and considered her options. She could still run away. She knew Steven well enough to know he wouldn't follow after her, even if he hadn't been hindered by the impressive campsite in his underpants. But then what?

Sapphire herself would've been impressed by the accuracy of the vision of the future that flashed through her mind. Steven would beat himself up for risking their friendship by making a move on her and never take any chances again. He would stick to the path of least resistance, propose to Connie, and father two children who looked exactly like their parents, buy a house in suburbia, get a job in an office and die of boredom. As for her, she would return to Little Homeworld full of regrets, finish her work there and transfer to another colony where nobody knew her, and there she would live, alone, until she was finally shattered in a freak knitting accident.

But if she _stayed..._ if she got back into that bed with him and fucked him, it didn't really matter what happened afterwards. Even if he did decide afterwards that he was going to pursue a life of banal human normality and she moved to another planet and took up knitting, she could at least die happy knowing she'd had tonight.

Or maybe they'd just go to sleep! That would be fine too! Certainly far less awkward than trying to get away with her ass hanging out-

"Peridot?" Steven carefully prompted after several seconds of silence.

"Ah!" She snapped to attention and stood up a little straighter. "Yes! Very well, you have made a convincing argument, I shall stay here tonight!"

"Great!" He grinned and held the edge of the blanket up for her. She shuffled forward and quickly slid into the bed next to him, then rolled over to face him.

Now what, Steven wondered. Should he make the first move? All the teen shows he'd watched had the guy move first, but then, those guys weren't the offspring/reincarnation/disguise/?/whatever of one of the most powerful beings in the known universe and he didn't want to abuse that power. Maybe he should let her decide how things went. But then, he remembered, she'd been watching all those shows with him. What if she was waiting for _him_ to make the first move?

He compromised by leaning forward just a little. And to his delight, she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips against his. Then the kiss deepened. Her lips parted, allowing him to slide his tongue past her own, and her arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer and making him moan helplessly. His hands began to wander, stroking the soft skin on her legs (his imagination had been letting him down, he dimly noted) until he reached the hem of her t-shirt. He hesitated for a moment, and then slipped his hand underneath the fabric, smiling to himself when he confirmed his suspicions about her state of undress. "Are you _sure_ you were only planning to sleep in my bed?" he murmured, squeezing the butt he'd been fantasizing about only a few minutes earlier.

"Ah!- I wouldn't _dream_ of doing anything inappropriate in your bed!" Peridot lied, because of course, dreaming of doing something inappropriate in his bed was _exactly_ what she'd been doing before she woke up, and if she were entirely honest with herself, if she'd been alone in this state when that had happened, well, she couldn't be sure she would've been able to resist the urge to finish herself off.

Steven grinned and kissed her again. "Are you sure?" he asked, sliding his hand a little higher.

"Hnn..." She rocked her hips against him, making his movements falter. "I suppose... I could be persuaded otherwise."

He'd had a witty retort lined up, but he couldn't remember what it was and there was no rewind on reality (at least, not that he was aware of). Instead, he tugged gently at the bottom of the t-shirt. "C-can I...?"

"Of course," she replied at once, and sat up so that he could pull it up and over her head, where it was then unceremoniously dropped on the floor.

At once, his hands went straight to her naked breasts. "Stars, you're so cute," he groaned, rolling one of her nipples between his fingers.

For a brief moment, she almost objected, then his lips closed around her other nipple and she decided he could call her whatever he liked, so long as he didn't stop. "Steven..." she moaned. "Please..."

One of his hands moved back down to her hip and then gently, almost cautiously, skimmed across her upper thigh and then lightly cupped her aching pussy. His fingertips brushed against her and stars flashed across her eyes. Her hands flew to the waistband of his shorts and pulled impatiently. She wanted him, _needed_ him now.

"W-wait, let me help," Steven panted, pulling back slightly as the material got uncomfortably snagged on his erection. It took a few, awkward seconds for him to get free, but as soon as he was, her hands were upon him, guiding him into her and oh! His imagination really _had_ been letting him down! Although it had given him a good head start, and as her hips rose to meet him, pulling him deeper into her tight, wet warmth, the part of his brain that was still capable of coherent thought started to worry that he wasn't going to last long enough to get her off.

Happily, Peridot's own imagination – not to mention his own touches and kisses – had already got her pretty damn close and it wasn't long before she felt her pleasure building up within her. "A-ah, Steven..." she gasped, tightening her hold on him. "Don't stop..."

He happily obliged, thrusting into her in a quick, steady rhythm, and she was helpless to hold back her orgasm any longer. Her mouth fell open, letting out breathy little mewls and whimpers and all she could do was cling to him. And as he felt her pussy clench down around his cock, he couldn't hold back his own release any longer. He made a few more wild, convulsive thrusts and then collapsed against her, panting heavily.

"W-wow," he finally managed to say, and rolled over onto his back. Then he peeped at her and smiled. "Thanks."

Peridot laughed and snuggled up closer to him. "I was just thinking the same thing," she teased. "I'm very glad I decided to stay after all."

"So am I." He yawned widely and hugged her close. "If you have any problems getting to sleep in Little Homeworld in the future, you are more than welcome to come here again."


	2. Chapter 2

The early morning sun rose slowly over the horizon, casting a golden glow over the land before it crept just high enough to shine directly upon Peridot's face, waking her up. She rolled over, and almost crashed straight into Steven. For a split second, she simply stared at his sleeping face in confusion, then it all came rushing back to her and she blushed from head to toe.

Once again, the urge to run away rose up within her, but before she could act upon it, his eyes opened and blinked before focusing upon her. And then he smiled. "Good morning, beautiful."

She smiled bashfully back at him. "Good morning. Um, handsome."

Steven laughed and leaned forward to give her a kiss. "A _very_ good morning," he murmured, pulling her closer.

They kissed again, but when they broke apart, Peridot's gaze fell upon the temple door and she drew back slightly. "I should probably get out of here before the gems catch us," she said reluctantly. She would've very much liked to go again, but last night had great and she didn't want to spoil the experience by being stabbed to death by Pearl now.

"Hmm?" He rolled over to see what she was looking at. "Oh, it's OK, they agreed a while ago that they'd stay in there until eight every morning. Unless there's an emergency, of course."

"And what time is it now?" Peridot asked warily.

"Uhh..." He reached for his phone and his face fell. "Seven forty-five. Boo."

She laughed and gave him another kiss, just because he looked so sad, before phasing on her clothes. "Well... I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah." Steven stared thoughtfully up at the ceiling and then rolled over and leaned on his elbow to watch her. "What are you doing later today?"

At once, her face lit up. "Oh! You haven't heard! We're beginning work on the nuclear fusion plant!"

"Yeah?" He sat up straighter. "They finally gave you permission?"

All of the newly cured gems in Little Homeworld had been very eager to try out some of the new technical advancements that had been made during the last 5000 years, primarily television and internet, but even his father's millions couldn't pay that electricity bill indefinitely. Somebody had half-heartedly suggested growing an inert power gem, but he'd shot that idea down at once, partly because nobody could be sure if it would harm the Earth in the same way growing a live gem would, but mostly because the more he learned about his mom and the other Diamonds, the more he suspected gem power sources might be a little more alive than they claimed and he wasn't ready to face _that_ can of worms yet, let alone start canning his own worms.

And then Peridot had brought up hydrogen fusion. "It's the same principle that powers your sun," she'd explained. "And we can use water as fuel! The only waste product would be oxygen!" Everybody had agreed that it was an excellent suggestion.

Unfortunately, none of them had been aware that Ronaldo had bugged the meeting. Upon hearing the word 'nuclear', he'd panicked and gone straight to the authorities. Feds had stormed the town, Peridot, Garnet and himself had all been arrested, and Lapis had then made things exponentially worse by waterboarding a dozen officers. Rather unsurprisingly, it had taken months or boring legal bureaucracy and paperwork before the local government had agreed to let them build the desalination plant, and they were still fussing over the nuclear fusion plant when he'd left for Homeworld a few days earlier.

"Uh huh!" She puffed out her chest with pride. "After more than an entire Earth year of meeting with scientists and arguing with ridiculous government authorities, I finally won them over with facts and logic!"

"Uh huh," he echoed, a little skeptically. And with good reason; when he'd left, all the Earth scientists were still insisting the planned reactor was too small to produce more power than would be required to run it in the first place. Peridot had tried explaining that gems had the technology to make things bigger on the inside, but they'd all dismissed it as 'science fiction bullshit" and refused to listen.

"Yes! Well, I was finally able to convince Garnet to give a tour of the temple to a small team of scientists before you left."

"Garnet and a team of Quartz soldiers?" he guessed.

Peridot grinned. "They were tired of having to watch Camp Pining Hearts on the screen in the hall. And I was tired of loaning out my DVDs. It took them a while to believe the evidence of their own eyes, but once they did, they informed the necessary authorities, who finally agreed to let us start building."

"That's great!" he exclaimed.

"Well..." She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "We also made an agreement to share any excess power with the State of Delmarva, with any profits to be split 30:70."

"Oh." He looked blankly at her. "Is... is that good?"

"I have no idea." A small smirk slid across her face. "I have spent a lot of time calculating our energy forecast over the past year while they've been dicking us around, there isn't going to _be_ any excess power." She smiled wider as he started to laugh. "So anyway, I shall be working on that today," she finished, and started heading for the stairs. "Bye!"

"Bye, Peri!" He waved lazily after her. "See ya!"

She walked calmly over to the warp pad, and a few moments later, she was back in Little Homeworld, where she finally gave in to the urge to start skipping with glee. "Oh what a night!" she sang to herself, bopping along to invisible music in the bright sunshine. What a night indeed. She'd fantasized about it many times, but never seriously believed it would happen. Her! And Steven! The gem she'd been crushing on ever since she'd taken that first step into the rain four years ago. Who'd then turned out to be a Diamond, one of the most elite and powerful beings in the universe. She'd known then that he was forever out of her league. But she'd been wrong! He'd chosen her! Truly, this was the best day of her life. Nothing could put a dent in her happiness-

"Ah, 5XG! Would you be a dear and stretch up and give me a hand with this Earth artifact?"

Peridot's smiled vanished at once. "Nice going, Peridolt," she muttered under her breath. "You _had_ to jinx yourself."

Because one of the other downsides to making peace with Homeworld and curing all of the corrupted gems was that because they'd all been bubbled or corrupted for the last five thousand years, they'd skipped Era 2 entirely. And so every so often, one of them would ask her to shapeshift a little or jump up impossibly high or, on one mortifying occasion, pool their strength and join a fusion, and she would be forced to explain why she was unable to do any of those things. Whenever she saw the pitying looks in their eyes, she wanted to scream. She'd saved the Earth! They'd all be dust if it wasn't for her! Still, she couldn't be too mad at them, it wasn't their fault they didn't know about the limitations of Era 2 and once it had been explained to them, they did stop asking her to use powers she didn't have.

Moss Agate 4FL was not one of those gems.

Moss Agate 4FL was, in fact, her old manager from Homeworld, an Era 1 gem who had overseen the general education of Peridot technicians and thrown an absolute tantrum upon finding out that the newest addition to her ranks had been created especially to oversee a secret project on Earth belonging to Yellow Diamond. It was something Peridot had never been able to resist gloating about on those occasions when her manager was being particularly obnoxious.

Of course, a few years later, she finally realized the reason she'd been chosen wasn't because she was special, but because she was wasn't. An Era 2 Peridot, even one that required a few extra resources to make her smarter than average, was easily replaceable. An Era 1 Agate, even one as stupid and spiteful as Moss Agate, was not. She wondered when Moss Agate had figured that out too. Probably when Peridot had failed to return.

She'd put her old life behind her and almost forgotten about Moss Agate entirely, when the other gem had shown up with a small group of other Homeworld gems a month earlier, who'd all finally succumbed to curiosity and decided they wanted to see what made Earth so special. Peridot privately thought they all just wanted to meet Steven in person. As for Moss Agate, she suspected her motives were less to do with any real interest in what Earth had to offer and more about trying to find out exactly what Peridot's secret mission had been. That, and getting on every single one of Peridot's last nerves.

She turned around to tell Moss Agate once again that no, she couldn't stretch anywhere, but the words died on her lips when she realized that the 'Earth artifact' was, in fact, a large chunk of scrap metal lodged in a tree. It suddenly occurred to her that she'd never told Moss Agate about her metal powers. What better time to demonstrate them than right now?

"Certainly, Moss Agate 4FL!" she declared with a wide smile that got even wider when she saw Moss Agate's brow furrow in confusion. "Allow me to assist!" She held her hands aloft and concentrated, and Moss Agate's mouth dropped open when the twisted chunk of metal shifted and started to float, raining twigs and leaves down upon her. Peridot waved her arms theatrically and made it spin in circles, just for fun.

Then she dropped it at Moss Agate's feet. The other gem let out a shriek of alarm and Peridot burst out laughing. "I hope my help was satisfactory," she said mockingly, then spun around and skipped away, completely oblivious to the daggers being glared into the back of her head. Her phone buzzed and she paused for a moment to read the new message.

_Last night was amazing! Do u wanna come over again 2nite? S xxx_

For the briefest of moments, she considered playing it cool and putting the phone away to answer later, then dismissed it. It was a little late now to be acting coy. Instead, she typed out a quick reply before going on her merry way. Yes, today really was the best day of her life.

xxx

"-And because it took so long to defeat the indigenous population, the planet itself suffered only minor terraforming, so it's the perfect place..."

Steven tuned out the sound of Pearl's voice and stealthily peeped at the new message.

_Sounds good. What time do you propose?_

"-sure we wanna-"

_I'll text u when the coast is clear_

"-assure me they're all dead-"

_OK, see you later_

"-up to Steven-"

_can't wa_

"Steven!"

Steven jumped and hastily shoved his phone back in his pocket. "Nothing! What?"

"We're planning to heal a planet, remember?" Amethyst reminded him. "Skaro? Ring any bells?"

"Ska- oh yeah." He snapped his fingers, remembering what Yellow Diamond had said. "The uh, the Kaleds-"

"Daleks," Garnet corrected.

"Same thing," Pearl added, just to confuse matters.

"It took a long time to defeat them, so they'd only just started terraforming," he continued, ignoring the interruption.

"Which we just said," Amethyst said, and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What's got you all distracted?"

"Nothing!" He widened his eyes innocently and hoped he wasn't blushing as much as he imagined he was. "I was just..." He thought wildly for an excuse. "Checking um, Ronaldo's website."

"I thought Peridot DDoS'd that thing to death?"

"Yes, but... I was just looking to see if it was back up yet. So! Skaro!" he declared firmly. "That's where we're going?"

"Well... there's a chance the Daleks may not all be dead," Garnet said slowly. "Some of them may just be dormant."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Steven blinked in confusion. "I mean, if we're trying to heal the place, right?"

"It's really not." Pearl grimaced. "The Daleks are a race of creatures whose sole purpose is the conquest of all the known universes and the total extermination of anything that isn't Dalek. They're an extremely powerful enemy, not just to Gemkind, but to every form of intelligent life."

"You can't win them over by appealing to their better nature," Garnet added before he could suggest doing exactly that. "They don't _have_ a better nature."

Steven pursed his lips; as far as he was concerned, these Dalek creatures didn't sound a whole lot different to the Diamonds, and he'd managed to win _them_ over. Still, it had been a difficult and ongoing task that'd only really worked because it turned out he was related to them, and he was pretty sure he didn't have any Dalek ancestry. Plus he wasn't really in the mood to go about trying to convince a whole new bunch of aliens to be nice for at least another few years. "OK, so if we run across any, we'll just bubble them. Problem solved."

"What about Peridot though?" Amethyst asked.

Steven almost fell off of his seat. "P-Peridot?" he stammered, feeling his face rapidly heating up again. "Wh-what about her?"

"She's basically a civilian. We can't ask her to go to a place like Skaro until we can be sure the threat has been completely neutralized," Garnet said with a small frown.

"Ask her-" Suddenly he remembered the plans they'd made back on Homeworld, how they were going to ask Peridot, with her Kindergarten and farming expertise, to help with the restoration. He hadn't really taken the suggestion seriously at the time because he'd assumed she'd be too busy with the fusion plant, but now... and once they were sure it was safe, perhaps he could persuade the others to leave them to work alone...

"STEVEN!"

This time he really did fall out of his seat. "What!? Geez!" he gasped, clutching his chest in alarm.

Amethyst held out a hand and pulled him back upright. "You're a million miles away today, dude."

"And we haven't even left Earth," Garnet quipped.

"Did you sleep all right last night?" Pearl asked in concern.

Inspiration struck at once. "I had a little trouble falling asleep," he said, which was _technically_ true. "Maybe I'll have an early night tonight."

"Of course," Pearl agreed at once.

"And in the meantime, let's go and explore Skaro."

xxx

Twelve hours later, Steven smiled and waved goodbye to the gems as they stepped inside the temple. As soon as the door sealed shut behind them, he sprang into action. "Candles, music, clean sheets, clean clothes..." he muttered under his breath. Was rose petals on the bed going too far? Probably. Plus, he realized, it probably wasn't a great idea to put rose petals in a place where he planned to spill a few bodily fluids. "Cancel the rose petals."

The plain, neutral bedding was exchanged for a more grown-up navy blue set, a romantic playlist was playing on his phone and he'd changed into a smart shirt and pants, and so he paused to send a message to Peridot before he began lighting the candles he'd strategically placed around the loft. Then he stepped back and looked critically at the scene before him. Had he forgotten anything? No, everything was perfect. He smiled with satisfaction and reclined on top of the duvet, striking a sexy pose.

Then after a few seconds, he frowned and sat up again. Forget the rose petals, was all of this too much? Last night they'd both been blinded by lust, but now, she'd had time to stop and think about it. For all he knew, she just wanted to talk, and here he was, setting up the room for more sex. He couldn't have been more blatant if he got those rose petals and used them to spell out 'fuck me' on his bed.

In a panic, he jumped to his feet and moved to snuff out one of the candles, but before he could, there was a tap at the window. He spun around to see Peridot standing on the other side of the glass. The rising panic was immediately replaced with curiosity and he rushed over to let her in. "Hey," he said in a hushed voice as she carefully climbed over the window frame. "Why didn't you warp in?"

"I was concerned the sound might alert the others," she explained, brushing down her skirt. "So I used the warp up on the hand of the temple fusion statue and climbed down."

"Huh." He nodded slowly. "Smart."

"Of course." She smiled smugly, and then looked around appreciatively at her surroundings. "Wow, everything looks so nice!"

Steven looked at her in her cute skirt and the oversized sweater he was pretty sure he recognized as once being one of his own. She'd even tied a green ribbon in her hair. "Not as nice as you," he said sincerely.

Peridot blushed and picked a speck of lint off her sleeve. "Oh, this old thing?" she said demurely. "It's just something I found lying around."

"Really?" he asked, and began walking around her. "And did it happen to be lying around in my laundry basket?"

"Erm..."

"I'm kidding," he reassured her, taking hold of her hands as he returned to stand in front of her. "It looks great on you."

"Oh good." She smiled in relief and leaned up on tiptoe to give him a long kiss. Then another one. Then they stumbled back onto the bed and carried on kissing.

So. Perhaps she wasn't interested in just talking after all, Steven happily concluded. He knew perhaps they really _should_ talk about it and establish exactly what their relationship was now... but he also knew Peridot was far more logical than emotional, and he didn't want to go full Boyle and frighten her off, especially not when she looked so cute straddling his lap. Instead, he pulled back slightly and ran his hands lightly up the sides of her torso and around her back, before pulling her closer. "You know," he murmured a little breathlessly, "it'd look even better _not_ on you."

"Oh, do you?" she teased. "Would you like to confirm that theory?"

"Very much so," he admitted cheerfully.

"Very well then!" She wriggled back slightly, smirking when she felt the growing bulge against her crotch, and took hold of the hem of her sweater and pulled it smoothly over her head.

Steven's mouth fell open and stars appeared in his eyes. He'd been expecting a t-shirt, probably one of his own again, maybe a bra. What he hadn't been expecting was nothing at all. No, Peridot _really_ wasn't interested in just talking, he reflected in the moment before he buried his face between her breasts.

Peridot sighed happily and rocked her hips against him again, feeling him growing even harder beneath her. She knew she'd have to eventually have to talk to him about this development in their relationship, but she'd decided to put it off for as long as possible. Definitely until after she'd had another orgasm or two. Maybe three, she thought as his lips closed around one of her nipples.

"Yeah," Steven said huskily when he was finally forced to take a moment to breath. "You _definitely_ look better without the sweater."

She grinned and gave him a quick kiss. "Well, _I_ happen to think you'd look better without this shirt."

"I like this shirt," he protested, looking mildly offended.

"I like it too," Peridot agreed. "I'd like it even better if it were on the floor. May I?"

He laughed and lowered his hands to her butt to give her a bit more room to move. "You may," he conceded.

She needed no further encouragement; her fingers slid lightly across his chest and up to the top button. She rather wanted to rip his shirt open as fast as possible, but she restrained herself. For one thing, she wanted to tease him. And secondly, she rather suspected she didn't have the strength to pull off such a feat and she'd just wind up struggling with the garment and looking rather silly. So instead, she slowly worked the first button free, ran her fingertips over the small patch of bare skin, then leaned forward and kissed him.

That done, she pulled back and repeated the process. Every time she leaned forward to kiss him, she made sure to grind her crotch against his until he finally broke and held up a hand to stop her. "Sorry, I just- I need a moment, or I'm not gonna make it much further," he confessed.

"Hmm. We can't have that," Peridot mused. "Perhaps there's something I could do to... take the edge off?"

His eyes widened. Was she suggesting what he really, really hoped she was suggesting? He tried to think of the sexiest way to ask her to blow him, but then her hands were in his lap and his mind went blank. "Um..."

"Yes?" she asked sweetly.

"Um..." He bit his lip and briefly closed his eyes. This sort of thing had always been so easy in his imagination, he thought ruefully. "You could um..." He coughed self-consciously. "G-give me a blow job?"

"An exemplary idea!" she agreed at once, and slid off his lap and knelt in front of him. Her hands swiftly unbuttoned his pants and tugged them down before tossing them out of the way, and then they wrapped firmly around his cock. For a moment, she simply gazed at it in fascination; after all, he hadn't had much of a chance to get a good look at it the previous night. Then she leaned forward and ran her tongue around the head.

Steven groaned and dug his fingers into the bed sheets. His imagination may have been better at conjuring up dirty talk, but here, it had been letting him down. Then her lips closed around him entirely and he swore. " _Fuck,_ Peri!"

Peridot smirked up at him, a look that clearly stated that was her intention, then she returned her attention back to the task at hand: namely giving him the best blowjob of his life. True, it was a low bar seeing as it was his first and only one, but she was still determined to make it a good one. And judging from the noises he was making, she was doing pretty well so far.

If her mouth had been free to ask, Steven would've readily agreed with her. Instead, he plunged his hands into her fluffy, blonde hair and watched helplessly as her cheeks hollowed with suction and his cock slid in and out between her lips. "Peridot... please... I'm gonna-"

She glanced up and him and hummed in acknowledgment without slowing her movements. The vibrations tipped him over the edge, and without realizing, he cried out and tightened his grip on her hair, holding her in place while he rode out his orgasm. " _Stars,_ Peridot!" he gasped.

Peridot waited patiently for his grip to loosen, then she sat up and licked her lips. "Do you feel better able to continue now?" she asked, climbing back onto his lap.

"Mmm..." He smiled a little groggily at her and leaned forward to give her a quick kiss. "Yeah, I'm good." He grabbed her butt again, and then raised his eyebrows when he felt dampness against his cock that had nothing to do with the blowjob. "But now I'm thinking maybe you're the one who needs the edge taking off."

"Well... I suppose I wouldn't- eep!" she squealed as he suddenly lifted her up and dropped her onto the bed.

"Shh," he scolded lightly as he began to tug her skirt down. "Or you'll have all the gems out here." He tossed the skirt aside and kissed the bare skin just above the top of her panties. "Now, what was that you were saying?"

"Mmm..." Peridot groaned, squirming as his mouth moved lower, kissing the flimsy material covering her pussy. "I was going to say... I wouldn't be opposed to this."

"Glad to hear it," he murmured, hooking his fingers into the waistband and slowly peeling her panties down, kissing each inch of bare skin as it was revealed. Then, when her pussy was uncovered, glistening with desire, he mustered up all his self-control, turned his face aside and began kissing her inner thighs instead.

"Steven..." she whined, wriggling impatiently.

"Shh..." he said again. He waited a moment until her movements subsided, then moved back up and kissed her clit. Then he ran his fingertips gently around the outside of her labia, parting the folds so he could slip his tongue between them.

"Ah!" Peridot couldn't help crying out. She bit her lip hard to prevent any further outbursts and dug her fingers into his hair again, silently urging him on.

Although his psychic powers didn't go quite so far as mind reading, Steven picked up on her unspoken commands (although to be honest, they were pretty damn obvious, even to someone as clueless as him) and continued to steadily eat her pussy until her bucking hips threatened to throw him off and her juices ran freely down his chin. Then he turned his attention to her throbbing clit, gently flicking the tip of his tongue over it. At the same time, he slowly slid two fingers into her and pumped them in and out of her.

Despite her best efforts, when the moment came, and her with it, Peridot couldn't help making noise. Stars flashed before her eyes and she let out a wordless cry as intense pleasure washed over her. Steven pulled back slightly and watched with fascination as her body convulsed in unison with the spasms in her pussy where his fingers still remained. When she finally relaxed and slumped back onto the bed, he withdrew them and lay down next to her. "So... was that good?" he checked.

Peridot giggled and rolled over to give him a quick kiss. "Very good," she assured him.

Steven smiled and stroked the curve of her hip. "And... do you wanna keep going?" he asked hopefully.

She looked down at his cock, which was standing to attention once more, and smiled back. "I'd like that very much," she said, leaning forward for another kiss.

Needing no further encouragement, he rolled on top of her, poking her a little uncomfortably in her inner thigh in his haste before he slowed down and pushed into her. Peridot let out a small hiss of discomfort; the friction against her overstimulated clit was almost painful, and Steven stopped at once. "You OK?"

"Nng... let me just..." She shifted slightly and tilted her hips upwards, which relieved the discomfort and had the happy side-effect of pulling him in deeper. "Ooh! That's a lot better! Now you may continue," she ordered.

"Oh thank goodness," he groaned and started moving again, slowly at first, to make sure she really was comfortable, but when she made no further complaints, he began to steadily fuck her harder. She raised her hips to meet his thrusts, urging him on, reveling in the feeling of being filled so completely. "Oh fuck, Peridot," he groaned, feeling his pleasure building once again. "You- ah- you feel so good!"

"T-the feeling- hah- is mutual," she panted, bucking her hips up to meet him again.

Her internal muscles clenched around him and his movements began to falter. "Ah- I'm gonna-!"

With that warning, she reached down between them and rolled her clit between her fingers, feeling him sliding into her beneath her fingertips. He slammed into her one last time, just as she reached her own peak, and her pussy clamped down around his cock, locking him in place and coaxing every last drop of cum out of him. Finally, exhausted, they both collapsed in a panting, sweaty, sated heap.

"Wow," Steven said when he finally got his breath back. "Again."

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Peridot paused. "Well if I'm entirely honest, that's a lie, I probably could come up with something more eloquent to describe the experience."

Steven laughed and pulled her in for a hug. "Like?"

"Um." Her mind went blank. "Upon second thought, 'wow' works perfectly." She wriggled deeper into his embrace and smirked up at him. "And I hope I can 'wow' you again in future."

"Good." He kissed her hair and yawned. "I look forward to it."

_We need to talk._

The thought flickered across both of their minds. And both of them silently decided it could wait until another time.


	3. Chapter 3

"Skaro?" Peridot repeated one week later, turning her face to look at him.

"Mmm hmm." Steven lazily trailed his fingers down her spine until he reached her butt. "You know it?"

"I've heard of it." She fell silent, trying to recall everything she knew about the other planet, a task made significantly more difficult as he carried on groping her ass. "It was only officially conquered a short time before I emerged. Several attempts were made to establish kindergartens there in the past, but they kept uncovering rogue Daleks, so a team of soldiers were stationed there permanently. Nobody wanted to work there, so of course, that was where they sent any kindergarten technicians who stepped out of line." She smiled ruefully. "If I hadn't already been assigned to Earth, I probably would've ended up there."

"Well maybe you still will," he said cheerfully. "That's the planet we're going to try and restore. Not the Ka- Daleks," he corrected himself. "Just the other organic life."

"Is it safe?" she asked warily.

"Seems to be." He gave her butt a gentle squeeze and then moved his hand a little lower so his fingertips grazed her pussy. "We've been checking it out all week. Blue Diamond even came along to gave the place another zap with her emotion powers, apparently they can't stand having any feelings other than hate, it makes them explode."

How awful it must be to be a Dalek, Peridot mused. "You seem to be enjoying yourself back there," she said, changing the subject.

Steven grinned and kissed her shoulder. "How could I not when you have such a cute butt?" he said, giving it another squeeze for emphasis.

"You like my butt?" she teased, giving it a little wiggle.

"I _love_ your butt," he said sincerely. _And I love you._ The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he bit them back. Somehow, he felt she might not take him seriously, not when they were naked in bed together. She might even think he was only saying it because he wanted to try anal, which was also true.

Anyway, the moment had passed now. He abandoned the thought for now and returned to more pressing matters. Specifically, Peridot's delectable butt. "I have seen many butts in my time," he said dramatically, lovingly cupping both cheeks. "And not a single one measures up to your own."

Peridot let out a small snort of laughter. "I know you're lying," she said sternly over her shoulder, although she couldn't help being flattered. "Chris Hemsworth has a much better butt."

"Well... maybe," he conceded. "But then I don't spend a whole lot of time looking at Thor's butt."

"And you do mine?" she challenged.

"Like I said." He leaned forward and kissed the little dip at the base of her spine. "How could I not when you have such a cute butt?"

Peridot grinned to herself. She knew exactly what he wanted, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't interested in trying it too... but she would make him beg for it first. "Are you quite finished manhandling my butt yet?" she teased.

"Not in the slightest," he shot back at once, and slid one finger between the cheeks, pressing it gently against her asshole, making her squirm.

"Oh?" She glanced back at him with raised eyebrows. "That's a shame, I was rather hoping you'd fuck me tonight, but if you'd rather just play with my butt..."

"Nooo," he whined, and fell upon her and kissed the back of her neck. "I wanna do both!"

"Then proceed already!" she laughingly demanded, purposefully arching her back to press her entire ass against him.

"Well..." he said, his lips brushing her earlobe. "I was rather hoping to um, do both at the same time?"

"Welllll..." She pretend to think about it.

"Pleeeease, Peridot!" he begged shamelessly, and kissed the back of her neck again.

"And what do I get out of it?" she joked.

At that, Steven stopped kissing her and thought seriously about it. "Well, to be honest, I kinda hoped you'd enjoy it just as much as me," he mused aloud. "But if there's anything you wanna try, or want me to do for you-"

"Steven, I was only joking," she hastily cut in before he could kill the fun, flirty mood completely. "I'm happy to do this with you."

"You sure?" he asked a little skeptically. "I mean, I've heard it can hurt a bit, but-"

"I'm sure," she interrupted again. "I trust you to hold back until I'm comfortable. Besides," she pointed out, "you have healing spit. I'm quite sure that will take care of any discomfort on my part."

Steven pursed his lips thoughtfully and then slowly nodded. "OK. I promise I'll take it slow. And if it does hurt, I'll stop. And," he added playfully, "if you want me to dress up in a Camp Pining Hearts outfit and then tie me up with the bandanna, I'm down with that."

"Oooooh!" She wriggled happily at the lewd mental image his words conjured up in her mind. "I may have to take you up on that offer."

"It's a deal," he promised. Then as she settled down onto her stomach, he sat back up a little and turned his attention back to her lovely, curvy bottom. His cock was already half-hard at the prospect of fucking her ass, but first, he smacked his lips together and then put his fingers in his mouth, coating them with a thick covering of saliva. It would've been much sexier if Peridot had been the one sucking his fingers, he mused, but then, she did have a point about the healing powers. "Pull your knees up under you," he instructed. "And keep them apart."

"Like this?" she asked, blushing slightly as she moved into position and tried not to think how much she probably looked like a frog right then, especially given her bright green skin.

Happily, Steven hadn't made the same connection, and when his slick fingers began to press against her asshole, all thoughts of how silly she might look flew straight out of her mind. "That's perfect," he murmured, reaching around to finger her pussy with his other hand. Despite the distraction, she couldn't help flinching when one of his fingers forced its way inside her. "You OK?" he checked.

"Y-yes," she stammered. "It just feels... different. Keep going."

He hesitated for a moment longer and then carried on. After a few minutes, he added a second finger and this time, she made no complaint. Instead, her breathing had started to get deeper and she was gently rocking her hips back and forth to aid him. "Still OK?" he whispered.

"Mmm hmm," she groaned. She was getting used to the intrusion now, beginning to enjoy the feeling of being stretched out, a feeling that intensified when he started to scissor his fingers. "A-ahh! Keep doing that!"

Steven obliged. His cock was fully erect now, eager to move on to the next stage, but he ignored the urgent throbbing, wanting to be sure she could accommodate his girth. He knew Peridots were durable, he knew his healing spit worked... but he also knew she was a fairly small gem and he was not-

"Ahem," she said a little impatiently. "I'm ready when you are."

"Ah! Sorry." He blushed, realizing his movements has slowed almost to a halt. "Right. OK. I'm ready." He slipped his finger out of her and took hold of his aching cock and slid it between her cheeks until the head brushed against her asshole. "You're, ah, definitely ready?" he checked one last time, reaching underneath her again to give her clit a gentle massage.

"I am _definitely_ more than ready," she insisted, and pushed back against him to make her point.

He'd been expecting more resistance, but her movement took him by surprise and the head of his cock slipped into her before he could stop himself. "Oh _fuck!_ " he gasped. He'd known it would be tighter, but he hadn't really known just _how_ tight. Her anus held him firmly, squeezing all around him. Sweat broke out on his forehead and he struggled against the almost overwhelming urge to just force the entire length of his cock into her at once. Instead, he slowly pushed an inch into her and then withdrew slightly. Her muscles immediately rippled along him and he stopped, knowing that if he didn't take a moment to adjust to the feeling, he was gonna cum right then. "Jeez, Peridot," he groaned, grabbing her hips hard.

"I take it you're enjoying yourself?" she teased, clenching her ass slightly and smirking when he let out a strangled gasp in response.

"Y-yeah, but if you do that again, I'm not gonna enjoy it for very long," he complained.

"Ah, sorry." She relaxed as much as she could and waited for him to regain his composure. Happily for both of them, it didn't take too long, and she let out a moan of desire when his cock pushed its way a little further into her. "Ooooh... more..."

"Well, if you insist..." He pushed himself deeper and deeper into her until finally, the darker green ring of muscle hugged the base of his cock. He was panting heavily by this point and strongly suspected he wasn't going to last more than a minute once he really started fucking her and so, once again, he paused and began massaging her clit instead, which he'd been shamefully neglected ever since he'd begun this journey to the center of her ass. It was a move he almost regretted when she started whimpering and rocking her hips, which just made the pressure around his cock even worse. But she looked so sexy, he couldn't bring himself to feel too bad about it.

"Steven..." she gasped. "Please... fuck me..."

Well, he thought ruefully, how could he deny a request like that? "All right, Peri," he whispered, and let go of her clit to grab her hip again. Then he pulled almost all the way out and slammed back into her.

Peridot's mouth fell open and she gasped loudly with every new thrust. There was no pain at all, his healing spit had taken care of that right from the start, and so instead all she felt was the pleasure of being intensely fucked. His cock repeated slammed into her, his heavy balls slapped against her wet pussy, and her clit pulsed, begging for attention, but it was only when she felt his movements begin to falter that she allowed herself to reach down and roll it between her fingers. "A-ah, Steven!" she cried out blindly as her orgasm ripped through her.

He thrust into her one more time, calling out her name in response, and then, utterly drained, he pulled out and collapsed onto the bed beside her. "That was _amazing_ ," he murmured, brushing the hair out of her face so he could cover her in kisses. "Can we do that again next time?"

Peridot narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I thought we were doing the Camp Pining Hearts thing next time?"

"We'll do it, honest," he insisted. "I just gotta get my hands on a costume first, y'know, I don't just have one lying around. I'll order one in the morning," he promised when she pouted at him. "Next day shipping. You'll be able to tie me up and have your wicked way with me in forty-eight hours, tops. And in the meantime..."

He trailed off hopefully, but Peridot was already shaking her head. "I won't be able to come over tomorrow," she said sadly. "My season two DVDs have finally been returned to me and Lapis and Bismuth wish to come over and binge watch it. Actually, they wanted to come over tonight. I lied and told them I was working," she confessed.

"Aww," he sighed. Then he pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Still, might not be a bad idea to have a night off and rest," he said, giving her a cheeky wink. "You've been wearing me out, I need to catch up on my beauty sleep."

Peridot smiled and cuddled up to him. "Then sleep," she ordered. "I want you at peak physical condition when I return!"

xxx

The next morning once again found Peridot happily skipping through Little Homeworld until she reached the site of the nuclear fusion plant, where she paused to watch some of the other gems at work. She would go home, play with Pumpkin for half an hour and then come back and join them, she decided as an enormous fusion strolled past, holding a girder that was easily twice as tall as they were. She needed to work hard to make up for the lie she'd told Lapis and Bismuth. Not to mention, the quicker the fusion plant was up and running, the sooner she could go to Skaro with Steven. And so, with that motivational thought in her head, she worked non-stop through the day until it was time to meet her friends, whereupon she put down her tools, strolled outside, and almost crashed straight into Moss Agate 4FL.

"Ah, 5XG! Lapis Lazuli told me you were around here somewhere!" the other gem exclaimed, shifting the giant girder she was carrying from one shoulder to the other. "She asked me to let you know that she's running a little late, there's been a small problem with the desalination plant."

"Oh." Peridot looked at the building next door and frowned. She hoped it really was just a small problem, the nuclear fusion reactor would be useless without a reliable supply of purified water. "Perhaps I'd better go and see if she needs any assistance."

"I'm sure she's fine," Moss Agate said dismissively. "Lapis Lazulis understand water better than we humble technicians, after all. And besides, you've been working for almost an entire Earth rotation, right?"

"Yes," Peridot lied, something she found much easier to do when it was a gem she intensely disliked. "I was definitely here all night as well as all day."

"Lovely. I'm so pleased you didn't let Earth interfere with your work ethic," the other gem said sweetly. "In fact," she said in a hushed tone, looking furtively around as she spoke, "Lapis Lazuli tells me you've even developed _metal powers,_ is that true?"

"Um." Peridot cringed. Of course, she'd already used her metal powers around Moss Agate, but still, she'd rather preferred it when Moss Agate didn't know exactly _how_ she'd done it. "Well, yes..."

"How fascinating! You, an Era 2 gem, with metal powers!" Moss Agate gasped theatrically. "It seems the rumors were right, on Earth, any Gem really can rise above her station!"

Peridot gritted her teeth and forced her mouth into a smile as she imagined using those metal powers to skewer Moss Agate with a piece of rebar, straight in the middle of her stupid, patronizing face. "Yes, well, if that's all-"

"So how strong _are_ your powers?" Moss Agate interrupted. "Do you think you could hold _this?_ "

"Wha-?"

Before Peridot could react, Moss Agate had thrust the enormous girder towards her. There was absolutely no way she could hold it; even on her best days, she still struggled to lift anything larger than a small car. The girder slipped straight through her fingers and crashed into the ground, almost crushing her toes, and began to fall. She flung out her hands, concentrating with all her might, but her powers simply weren't strong enough. All she could do was watch helplessly as it slowly arced through the air and smashed straight through the walls of the water tank in the desalination plant. "Oh nooooo," she whimpered, covering her mouth with her hands as thousands of gallons of water immediately poured out and smashed though the streets of Little Homeworld, scattering screaming gems in its wake-

"Peridot, what the fuck!?"

The water froze abruptly, and then rose into the air, forming an enormous ball. Peridot's eyes followed it until she spotted Lapis flying overhead, and she sagged with relief. "Lapis, thank goodness..."

The words curled up and died on her lips as Lapis glared furiously down at her. "What the hell were you playing at!? Of all the times to go messing around with your stupid metal powers!" she screamed, the ball of water growing larger with every word.

For several seconds, Peridot was too stunned to reply. "I-I didn't-" she stammered as dozens of angry faces turned towards her and started muttering to each other.

" _Months_ of work, ruined!" Lapis spat. Behind her, the water formed a giant, clenched fist, and Peridot took a hasty step backwards. "You reckless _clod!_ "

"B-but I wasn't-"

"Cool it, Lapis."

Peridot jumped as a large hand clapped down upon her shoulder, and turned to see Bismuth step forward, smiling calmly. "Peridot didn't mean any harm, you know that," she said soothingly. "And this ain't nothing we can't fix."

"Well if you want to help, you can start by shutting off the water," Lapis snapped, and turned her back on them to concentrate on the still-growing hand of water. It flipped them the bird, then morphed back into a wobbly ball.

Bismuth sighed and shook her head. "Gotta say, 'Dot, this isn't quite how I saw this evening going," she said ruefully. "I know it's gotta suck, being around all these Era 1's, but there's a time and a place for your metal powers, and this ain't it."

"I wasn't trying to use my metal powers!" Peridot said furiously. "I mean, I _was_ , but I was trying to use them to _stop_ the girder after..." She trailed off and whipped her head around, but Moss Agate had quietly slipped away in the chaos.

Bismuth gave her a small smile. "You know, you don't-"

"NOW, Bismuth!"

"Ah, right. Cleanup now, motivational speech later," Bismuth muttered to herself. "Well, I gotta go. This sort of _Bismuth_ calls for an architect!"

She looked hopefully down at the smaller gem, but Peridot couldn't bring herself to laugh at the terrible pun. "What about a technician?" she said instead, half-turning back to fetch her tools.

Bismuth hesitated. "Uh-"

"SOME TIME TODAY WOULD BE NICE!" Lapis roared from somewhere overhead, making them both jump.

"Sorry, Peridot, I really gotta go help out," Bismuth said apologetically. "And it's nice of you to offer to help and all, but maybe..." She wrinkled her nose and looked up at Lapis. "...Maybe you should just give everyone some space right now."

"Duly noted" Peridot said dully. She watched Bismuth sprint off into the ruined desalination plant, and then her gaze drifted back towards the damaged streets of Little Homeworld, and the gems glaring back at her, very clearly imagining how nice it would be to punch her right now. And then she decided, for the first time in many years, to follow Moss Agate's example, and quietly slipped away as well.

xxx

Wile Steven had plenty of survivalist experience after being trapped on a desert island and an alien moon, both of those places had food and water. Skaro, after undergoing partial terraforming, was a much more unforgiving place and the few animals he had seen there didn't look remotely appetizing. And so, he'd spent most of the day hunting out old camping equipment, shopping for tools online (plus a CPH costume) and making a list of things he would need to buy just before they were ready to go. They would, of course, have access to the warp pads, but Steven didn't want to spend too much time traveling back and forth if he could avoid it.

He paused for a moment and briefly fantasized about building a proper house on Skaro. After all, he had no idea how long it was going to take to repair the damage done, so it made sense to build a proper shelter. Perhaps he should ask his dad if he still had the blueprints for the beach house. He'd make a few customizations, of course. Like walls around the bedroom, to give him and Peridot more privacy.

Then a small frown appeared on his face. He wanted to live with Peridot, of course he did, but did she want to live with _him_? For all he knew, she was planning to stay right here on Earth and just commute to Skaro every day. He would need to talk to her before he let himself get completely carried away-

His phone trilled, snapping him out of his somber thoughts and he looked at the screen to see Connie's name flash up. His spirits brightened at once. A chat with his bestie was just what he needed right then. "Hey Connie! What's up?"

"Hi Steven!" Connie's voice sounded cheerfully in his ear. "How's Skaro prep going?"

"It's going pretty good," he said, absently tapping his notepad as he spoke. "I'm gonna talk to my dad tomorrow about maybe building a house there." He briefly considered asking her what he should do about Peridot, but immediately dismissed the thought. Although he could be pretty oblivious sometimes, even he couldn't fail to notice Connie's huge crush on him, although he'd carried on pretending otherwise. Asking her for advice about another girl he was fucking might finally get the message across that he wasn't interested, but it would be a very harsh way to deliver it and he didn't really want to hurt her feelings.

"To live in?" Connie suddenly sounded a lot less cheerful. "Can't you just stay in Beach City and warp there?"

"Not really. I need to keep an eye of things over there. I mean, what if my plant powers do something nasty one night and I go back in the morning to find the planet's been taken over by hostile tree-Stevens?" he pointed out.

There was a short silence on the other end of the phone as Connie struggled to come up with a rebuttal. "But you'll still come back, right? You're not staying there for good?"

"Nooo!" He laughed and shook his head. "No, I'm gonna be coming back pretty often for supplies and stuff. Plus there's no TV or wifi there. Per-" He caught himself quickly. "Uh, Pearl can probably rig something up, connect to the Gem's communications system, but I still don't think I'm gonna be able to get TubeTube out there. No, once it's all fixed up, we're gonna all come back and let the native plants and animals take over."

"Oh, OK, that's cool then." He could almost hear her relax on the other end of the phone. He didn't have the heart to tell her that if it worked, he wanted to move on and fix some other planets too. "What's it like, anyway?" she asked. "I mean, how badly damaged is it? How long do you think it's gonna take to fix?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "They set up a few kindergartens, but they hadn't been running long, so they're not quite as dead as the ones here, but there are more of them. Plus there's a lot of battle damage, not just from fighting the Daleks, but 'cause they had their own nuclear war at some point."

"Nuclear? Is that safe?" Connie asked warily.

"Oh yeah," he said brightly. "The radiation levels went down ages ago, it's totally safe now. In fact, why don't you come over tomorrow and I'll show you around some of it?" he added impulsively. "I can show you the petrified forest!"

"Sure, that sounds cool," she agreed at once. "I'll see you in the morning then?"

"Sounds good," he agreed.

"Awesome! It's a date!"

Steven cringed and laughed nervously, but she was gone before he could say anything more. He looked at his phone for several long seconds, then sighed and put it aside, making a mental note to ask the gems to join them tomorrow. After all, the forest was quite close to the deserted Dalek city and they were all still a little wary around that place. He picked up his notepad again, but before he could resume working on his plans, he heard a quiet tap at his window and spun around to see Peridot standing on the other side. He brightened up at once and hurried over to let her in. "Hey! What happened, I thought you weren't coming over..."

His words tailed off as she stepped into the light and he finally caught sight of her unhappy face. "Peridot? What's wrong?" he asked urgently, pulling her in closer. "Are you OK?"

Peridot recalled the mob of angry gems, Lapis at their head, and her lip began to wobble. "Noooo..."

"What happened?" he asked again. "Are you hurt?"

"Noooooo..." she admitted. "Only my feelings."

Steven doubted his healing spit could take care of that, but he tried anyway before leading over to the bed to sit down. "Tell me what happened," he urged.

Peridot sniffled and rested her head against his chest as she began to explain what had happened back at Little Homeworld. "-And Lapis didn't even let me explain and now all the other gems are angry with me," she finished, tears prickling in her eyes at the furious injustice of it all. "Even Bismuth didn't believe me, not really."

"Hey, it's OK," he said soothingly, rubbing little circles on her back. "I believe you. And the others will once they've had time to calm down and think. OK, Bismuth and Lapis at least," he conceded when she let out a derisive snort.

"May I stay here until then?" she asked, looking up at him beseechingly.

"Of course," he said at once. "And tomorrow I'll come with you back to Little Homeworld. Maybe I can heal some of the damage, smooth things over a little." After all, he reasoned, what was the point of being Pink Diamond if he couldn't use his position of authority to help the gem he loved?

But until then, he simply held her in his arms until she finally relaxed against him and fell asleep. Shortly afterwards, he drifted off too.

xxx

"Hey, wait-!"

"Steven!" Footsteps thundered up the steps towards his room. "Have you heard? There's been an accident at Little Home- oh!"

Steven's eyes snapped open and he rolled over to see Connie staring at him, heartbreak written all over her face. _Shit._ He opened his mouth to say something, but his mind was completely blank. How was he going to explain this without hurting her? He couldn't. It was already done.

"I-I'm sorry," she stammered, almost falling down the steps in her haste to escape. "I didn't mean- excuse me!"

And then she was gone and Steven's brain finally broke out of it's stupor. "Connie, wait!" he called after her, jumping to his feet and sprinting past Amethyst after her. "It's not what it looks like!"

She'd got a good start and was now running across the sand, but he easily overtook her and skidded to a halt in front of her, forcing her to stop before she crashed into him. "Please, I can explain!"

Connie scowled and folded her arms across her chest. "Explain."

He thought wildly for a moment, then his shoulders slumped. "I can't explain."

"Yeah. That's what I thought." She glared at him for a beat, then sat down heavily on the sand and turned to look out at the ocean. "Are you two dating?" she asked quietly.

"Um." He lowered his gaze and watched his toes curl into the sand. "It's complicated," he admitted, slowly sinking onto the sand beside her.

Connie bit her lip and risked a quick glance in his direction. "Do- do you love her?"

That question was much easier to answer. "Yes," he said honestly. "I'm sorry. This wasn't how I wanted you to find out."

"S'all right." She laughed a little bitterly. "To be honest, deep down, I already knew. I'm one half of Stevonnie, doofus," she explained, seeing the startled look on his face. "You think I can't hear you thinking 'ooh Peridot's so smart and cute and brave and funny' while you stare at her ass?" she mocked gently. "I just never thought you'd have the guts to do anything about it."

"Oh, thanks!" he retorted huffily.

Connie laughed, then her expression turned somber again. "But yeah, I suppose that's why I haven't been around so much lately. It's hard to be around you when you're so in love with her."

"I'm sorry," he said again helplessly. "I never wanted to hurt you."

"Huh. Well you fucked that one up." She dragged her fingers through the sand, close to his. For a moment, he thought she was going to try and take hold of his hand and he had no idea how he was supposed to react to that, but instead, she withdrew and abruptly stood up, brushing sand from her skin. "Look, I'm gonna go. I can't be around you right now."

"Wait!" He scrambled to his feet as well and took a step towards her. "Are- are we still friends?"

Connie hesitated. "I... I don't know," she admitted. "I don't want to lose you, but... I need to think. And maybe do tequila shots," she joked mirthlessly. "Please, just... give me some space. Go to Skaro. Send me a text when you're back and if I'm ready to talk, I'll call you."

He didn't like it, but he could hardly force her to agree to be just friends right now (and what kind of person would he be if he could?) and so he forced himself to smile and nod at her. "OK. I won't pester you this time until you're ready. But I do hope you'll still be my friend when that time comes."

"Thanks." She gave him a rather wobbly smile in response. "Now go... deal with whatever this thing is you've got with Peridot. I'm gonna be pretty mad if you break my heart and then come back in a month and tell me it was too complicated to work out."

He wanted to reach out and give her a hug, but he suspected that might just make things worse, so instead he kept his hands by his sides and watched her walk away before he turned and began making his own way back to the beach house, deep in thought.

When he stepped inside, Amethyst was waiting. "Hey. How'd it go?" she asked, handing him a cup of coffee.

"It probably could've gone better," he muttered, sniffing the coffee cautiously. "But then, it probably could've gone a million times worse." After all, he realized, nobody had screamed or cried, which was a good sign. Then he blinked and narrowed his eyes. "Hey, how long have you been here?"

"'Bout half an hour," she cheerfully admitted. "I guess you must've slept through your alarm or something. Don't worry, I wasn't gonna bother you and P-dot, I was planning to slip back into the temple when you guys woke up, but when Connie burst in, I figured I'd better stick around, do my mature thing and make sure you were OK."

Steven nodded slowly. He had to admit, it was nice to have somebody ask him how _he_ was doing for a change. "I'm OK," he said aloud, and realized it was true. It had been painful, but now it was finally out in the open. "I'm gonna give Connie some space for a while. And I guess I need to talk to Peridot."

"That might be tricky." Amethyst jabbed her thumb in the direction of the loft. "She climbed out the window a couple of seconds after you ran out of here."

xxx

" _Connie, wait! It's not what it looks like!"_

Peridot's skin prickled hot with humiliation. So that was it then. They'd finally been caught, and in a cruel twist of fate, on an occasion when it really hadn't been what it looked like, and Steven had chosen Connie, as she'd always known he would.

Well she wasn't going to wait for him to come back and tell her maybe they should stop fooling around now because he'd proposed to Connie, but would she like to be their flower girl instead? No, she still had some self-respect! Not a lot, perhaps, but enough.

And so as soon as she heard the door slam shut behind him, she quietly got up, climbed out of the window and made her way up to the warp pad on the statue's hand. For a brief moment she faltered, wondering where to go next. Certainly not back to Little Homeworld, she wasn't ready to face the gems there just yet. Not the kindergartens either, if for some reason he did come looking for her, those would surely be the first places he'd check. In the end, she warped over to the old drop ships that had once housed Centipeedle and her crew and made her way back inside the one she'd once turned into a death trap. And then once she'd reached the controls, she curled up underneath them and tried to figure out what the hell she was going to do next.

xxx

"She always was a little reckless," Moss Agate confided. "Why, I remember one time in training..."

Lapis tuned out the other gem's voice and concentrated on desaturating the sodden furniture in one of the ruined gem dwellings that had been hit the night before. Her top priority then had simply been removing the immediate flood water, but now the damaged water tank had been hastily repaired and the water disposed of, she was now concentrating her efforts on clean up. While Moss Agate concentrated on gossiping about Peridot. "Uh huh," she absently, flicking the small ball of water up into the sky where it turned into a cloud.

The nearby warp pad chimed and she snapped towards it, hoping to see Peridot there. She was almost disappointed when it was Steven. Not disappointed enough not to smile though. "Steven! Hi!" she called and waved at him.

"Hi Lapis," he said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "Have you seen Peridot anywhere?"

"Um." Lapis felt her skin flush with guilt. "Not since yesterday evening. There was uh, a little accident."

"Little!?" Moss Agate gasped theatrically at this understatement and turned to Steven to elaborate. "Apparently 5XG was showing off her metal powers and managed to flood the entire town."

"It really was an accident, probably," Lapis said quickly. "And I stopped the water before it got too bad."

"Right," Steven said slowly, staring at Moss Agate as he spoke. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've been properly introduced. You are?"

"Oh, right. Steven, this is Moss Agate 4FL," Lapis butted in before Moss Agate could identify herself. "Moss Agate, this is Steven Universe."

"I also happen to be Pink Diamond," he added grimly, just in case the other gem hadn't made the connection.

She certainly did now. Her eyes widened and her arms snapped into the annoyingly familiar Diamond salute. "M-my Diamond! It's an honor to meet you at last!" she gushed.

"Eugh," he muttered to himself. "OK, you can stop doing that. Please. Stop. Don't. Now, what was that you were saying about Peridot?" he asked when she finally stopped saluting him. "Have _you_ seen her anywhere today?"

"5XG?" A nasty gleam appeared in Moss Agate's eyes. "No, I'm afraid I haven't seen her since she destroyed the desalination plant last night."

"It wasn't that bad in the end," Lapis said weakly, but nobody was listening to her.

"Utterly reckless behavior, but not entirely unexpected, I'm afraid," Moss Agate continued spitefully. "I used to be her manager back on Homeworld, you see, and she was just the same there, arrogant and defiant, always convinced she knew best. But then, what can you expect from an Era 2 gem?" she sneered. "I suppose they have to justify their pitiful existence..."

Her voice trailed off as Lapis and Steven stared mutely back at her and it began to dawn upon her that perhaps she might have misjudged her audience. "Ah, I mean, I suppose it's understandable," she hastily backtracked. "With the resource shortage, of course. Every gem created then had to be fully accounted for-"

"You know, you're not better than her just because you have powers," Steven said in a dangerously low voice. "Especially not when you used those powers to try and turn her friends against her."

"What?" Lapis said sharply, but Steven and Moss Agate continued to ignore her.

"Peridot may not have super strength or super speed or be able to shapeshift or fuse," Steven continued. "But she has something you don't, and that's the ability to face her prejudices, admit her faults and become a better gem than you'll ever hope to be."

Moss Agate gulped and took a step back. Had his eyes just flashed pink? She rather thought they had. "I-I-"

"So, Moss Agate 4FL, I'm afraid I don't think Earth has anything to offer you," he finished coldly. "I suggest you find somewhere else to go and spend your existence."

And with that, he turned his back on her and walked away. A few seconds later he heard footsteps and then Lapis fell into step beside him. "What the heck was all that about?" she asked, bewildered.

"She pushed that girder on Peridot on purpose," Steven explained shortly. "I don't think she expected it to do as much damage as she did, but still."

"Oh." Lapis felt her face heat up again. "Right."

"You really haven't seen her today?"

"No. But I've been kinda busy," Lapis said, waving a hand at some of the shattered buildings. "I can check out her house if you want?"

"Well, I was kinda doing that myself right now," he pointed out, and Lapis realized they were indeed walking along the path that lead to Peridot's house.

"I'll come with you anyway," she decided. "I need to find her too and apologize. I um, kinda lost my temper with her yesterday and yelled at her in front of everyone," she confessed.

"I know, she told me. She came to the beach house last night," he explained when she shot him a look of confusion. "But now I can't find her either."

Lapis gave him a sympathetic smile. "She might have just gone home," she said hopefully. "Maybe she didn't want to leave Pumpkin alone too long."

But when they reached the little house, it was clear Peridot hadn't come home yet. Lapis gave Pumpkin a hug while Steven checked all the rooms to make sure, but was quickly forced to admit defeat. "Shit," he muttered under his breath, which was when Lapis knew things were really serious. "Look, I'm gonna keep looking for her, but if she comes back here, can you call me?" he asked, looking frazzled. "It's urgent."

"Uh, sure, and let me know if you find her," Lapis agreed. She opened her mouth to ask exactly _what_ was so urgent, but he'd already sprinted away and so she shrugged, gave Pumpkin a kiss and went back to work.

She didn't see Peridot for the next few hours, and neither had Bismuth when she asked her, and when she didn't get any messages from Steven saying he'd found her, she began to get seriously worried. When the last house had been dried out, she went back to Peridot's house again and waited.

The sun was just beginning to set when the door finally opened and Peridot's hushed voice cut through the gloom. "Pumpkin? Sweetie? I'm back."

Pumpkin jumped out of Lapis's lap and ran over to the other gem, barking happily. Lapis watched Peridot pet her and waited for her to be noticed. She couldn't help smirking when Peridot did and screamed. "Gah! Lapis! What are you doing lurking in my house!?"

"I was waiting for you," Lapis said simply.

"Actually, I'm glad you're here," Peridot said, which stung slightly, but Lapis supposed she deserved it. "I need you to take care of Pumpkin."

"What? Why?" Lapis asked, instantly on guard. She was even more concerned when Peridot grabbed a backpack and began throwing tools, clothes and her tablet into it. "What are you doing?"

"Packing, of course."

"What!?" Lapis exclaimed. "Where are you going!?"

"I don't know yet," Peridot lied. She knew exactly where she was going. Not Homeworld and not Skaro either. No, she was going to Telos. That was another half-completed planet that had been conquered some time ago, but if she was really lucky, there might still be a Cyberman there willing to get rid of all those pesky, annoying feelings for her. "But I can't stay here any more."

"Is this about what happened yesterday? Are you running away?" Lapis demanded. "Look, Peridot, I know things seem bad right now, but trust me, running away doesn't fix anything, I should know!".

Peridot shook her head. "This is a completely different situation," she said, a little patronizingly. "You ran away because you were too scared to stand up to the Diamonds and protect Earth." She sighed and looked away. " _I_ am run- leaving because I've ruined the most important friendship I ever had."

"Look, I'm sorry I blew up at you-" Lapis began.

"Not _you_ ," Peridot said rather rudely. "Although I will admit that I was very hurt you jumped to conclusions so swiftly and shouted at me in front of a crowd of gems without giving me a chance to explain myself."

Finally, it clicked. "Do you mean Steven? Because he was here earlier, looking for you." Lapis watched carefully as Peridot's movements faltered momentarily. "What happened? Did he manage to find you?"

Peridot didn't answer. Instead, she straightened up, tossed the bag over her shoulder and pushed Pumpkin into Lapis's arms. "Please take care of her for me. Goodbye."

"Wait!" Lapis cried as Peridot slipped through the door and closed it behind her. She quickly put Pumpkin down on the floor and ran after the other gem, half-planning to trap her in a water bubble or something, but when she flung the door open, Peridot had already disappeared. She stared out into the darkening streets for a second longer and then ran back inside and grabbed her phone. She didn't have the slightest clue what was going on, but she knew who did.

xxx

The galaxy warp was quiet at this time of night, but Peridot hid behind a broken column and waited until it was clear before stepping out onto the warp pad that would take her to Telos. She paused for a moment and looked up at the dark sky where the stars were just starting to come out and sighed. She'd miss Earth. Maybe she'd come back one day, but not for-

"PERIDOT! WAAIIIIITTTT!"

She very nearly activated the warp right then, but the tiny little spark of hope that had ignited inside her at the sound of his voice wouldn't let her leave now without at least hearing what he had to say. She gritted her teeth and tried to strangle it to death, but it was too late, he was already standing in front of her, panting heavily with exertion. "Well?" she asked, trying to sound indifferent and silently vowed that if he really was here to ask her to be a flower girl at his wedding, she'd push him in the ocean. "What is it?"

"Hah... hah..." he wheezed, bent over double. "Gimmee... a second..."

She waited. After a few moments, his breathing evened out and he straightened up and mopped his brow. "I'm sorry," he said as soon as he could get the words out without dying of asphyxiation. "I panicked this morning, I was trying not to hurt Connie's feelings. I didn't realize until it was too late that I hurt yours too."

"No you didn't," she lied. "I just... decided things were too complicated."

Steven winced. "So... you're just leaving?" he said in a small voice.

Peridot eyes flickered around him; she couldn't quite bring herself to look in his eyes. "I am."

"Oh." He gulped and bit his lip. "O-OK. If- if that's what you really want to do, I won't stop you. But before you go, I just um, wanted to tell you, I love you." His voice cracked and tears welled up in his eyes. "M-maybe I should've said it sooner, I dunno, I was scared I'd frighten you off or something, which I guess maybe I'm doing right now anyway, but I- I just needed you to know. Before you went."

Peridot opened her mouth, but when no words came out, he smiled sadly and turned away, wiping his eyes. It wasn't until he was halfway back to the temple warp that Peridot's internal monologue stopped screaming in confusion and started screaming at her to move. "WAIT! Wait wait wait wait wait!" she shrieked and sprinted after him and flung himself into his arms. "Wait," she said again, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt.

"Um." He blinked and cautiously closed his arms around her. "I'm waiting."

Several seconds of very awkward silence passed.

"I don't know how to talk about feelings," Peridot finally said, breaking the silence.

"Oh." He peeked down at her. "To be honest, I'm not all that great at it either-"

"I know one thing though," she interrupted and gazed up at him. "I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not planning to write a continuation of this where they go to Skaro and have shenanigans with Daleks. Mostly because I just don't have enough time, sorry. I'm not gonna rule out one-shots for Stevidot events though, so don't go saying goodbye to these two idiots just yet!

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a one-shot. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A ONE-SHOT! Then a small plot popped into my head and how could I say no? Full disclosure though, I've not actually watched any of SU Future yet, so everything I write about Little Homeworld is probably gonna be wildly inaccurate. Happily there isn't much of it. :D


End file.
